The Fairer Sex
by mileouttahell
Summary: Title submitted by a reviewer, so thanks. ^_^ My weird feminist plot bunny- what if the 'morphs had been all girls? *chapter five up* Ari and Andy plot and Kali messes with chemicals
1. (Courage) Part 1- Elfangor

My name is Andy. OK, well, it's really Andrea, but everyone calls me Andy.  
I can't tell you my last name, or where I live. I can't tell you what school I go to or the name of the soccer team I play for. This is a new concept for me, this silence. I can't really keep secrets, and I must say this one is driving me crazy. Fortunately, I have four friends to share it with, or I really would go nuts.  
I was hanging out with my totally adorable best friend, Ardelle, better known as Ari, at the mall one evening. Ari is what we tomboys commonly call a "ditz". She loves the color pink and shopping. And shopping. And shopping...  
Ari finally finished shopping, and we crashed at the food court. "Hey, Andy!" I heard Jenny call.  
Jenny's our resident plain-child, with her plain brown hair, plain brown eyes, and plain clothes. Or she would be plain if she didn't call so much attention to herself...  
"Ew! I just stepped in gum I really don't know where that stuff has been," she exclaimed, making a face. A paranoid, hypochondriac worrywart. That's our Jenny.  
  
  
With her was Kali. I swear, that girl never speaks. She nods, or, if absolutely necessary, grunts out an answer. She's just shy, I guess. Not that I can understand that. She's supposedly a certified genius, whatever that means. All I know is she's always reading, often fantasy novels or occasionally comic books, and if she's not reading, she's working on her laptop.  
The other odd thing about Kali was her choice of apparel. Her clothes were always some muted shade, usually gray, and baggy and long-sleeved even in the summer.  
"What's up?" Ari bubbled.  
Kali shrugged. "Not much," Jenny said. "We were about to head home."  
"Great, us too!" I said cheerfully. "Wanna walk with us?"  
"Sure," Jenny agreed for both girls.  
On the way out, we bumped into Tala, a girl who was…more of an acquaintance than a friend. I don't think she had any real friends. Despite her blond hair, she's almost Goth- she wears dark clothes, often leather, and cultivates a lone wolf attitude.  
"Yo, what's up?" she asked, combat boots clunking on the ground as she joined us. "Mind if I join ya? Ain't got nothing to do."  
Kali wrinkled her nose, most likely at the grammar.  
"Whatever," I said agreeably.   
In hindsight, we really should have known not to go through the construction sight. I mean, it was like a horror writer's dream come true. But foresight and forethought have never been my stronger points, except maybe when it comes to strategy, like with chess or on the soccer field.  
"Hey, come on, guys. It'll be fun," I coaxed.  
"I go through here all the time," Tala agreed.  
"Plus Ari and Jenny both have to be home in ten minutes," I pointed out.  
Jenny frowned. "Even if there aren't psychotic ax-murderers in there, there are probably rats, rabid dogs, drug dealers…"  
"C'mon," Kali said, pulling her through the hole in the fence. "It'll be cool."  
"Oh, great," Jenny moaned. "My best friend has a dark side, we're going into an abandoned construction site where god-knows-what is…we're all gonna die."  
Ari, my sweet wouldn't-hurt-a-fly best friend, attached herself to my arm as soon as she got through the fence, right behind me. "I don't think this is a good idea." She wrinkled her nose. "It's creepy in here."  
"Hey, I'll protect you," I said, seriously.  
Tala rolled her eyes. "Gimme a break, Prince Charming."  
"Hey," I protested. "I take my roll seriously!"  
Ari snickered, and I mock-pouted at her.  
Jenny suddenly let out a squeak.  
"Hush," Tala scolded.  
"But- but- look up there!" she said. "It's a UFO!"  
We all looked at her dubiously. "You don't believe in that crap," Kali said incredulously.  
"Just look!" she insisted, so we all turned to look.  
And you know what? She was right.  
"Oh. My. God." Ari squeaked.  
"Is it just me, or is it headed this way?" I asked. "My hair feels like it's standing on end."  
"How can you tell?" Ari asked, her own black hair looking like it had just been hit by major static force. "Isn't it basically spiked up anyway?"  
Tala gave her a weird look. "You just killed the mood, you realize. That ship could be here to kill us, and you're worrying about Andy's hair?"  
"Well, she is a fashion disaster," Ari agreed.  
"We should be ready to fight," Kali spoke up.  
Ari's eyes got really big. "Not unless we have to," she exclaimed, clutching my hand harder.  
"It's definitely coming this way," Tala said.  
"Hiding would be good," Jenny squeaked. "Guys? Um, guys? Oh, crap, too late, it's here."  
I'm not even gonna try to describe the spaceship. Description is totally not my forte. Ari tells me it's because I'm about as observant as a rock. But you can ask Ari or Kali to describe it later. They're better at that stuff.  
Anyway, at this point I was totally overwhelmed, so I wasn't even all that shocked when the hatch opened to reveal a blue-furred, deer-scorpion-human thing. (Again with the description.) The one thing I did notice was the eyes. There were two sets, but the ones on his face somehow smiled with incredible kindness at us, even though he had no mouth. He stepped slowly down what was probably the gang plank, and suddenly stumbled and fell.  
"He's hurt!" Ari exclaimed, running towards the alien.  
"Oh, that's smart," Kali muttered, burying her face in her hand.  
"She's gonna die," Jenny confirmed with a sigh.  
"Hi, I'm Ari!" she said, cheerfully. "How'd this happen?" She touched a large burn mark along his side. "Can I help?"  
No, said a strange voice that seemed to be only in my mind. It's too late to save me. But you can help me in another way.  
"What on earth?" Tala asked. "Did everyone else hear that?"  
We all looked at each other and nodded.  
"What? I can't not help you! I'll go…call an ambulance."  
No! he exclaimed. No, it's too late. Trust me.  
Kali raised an eyebrow. "Look, dude, we just met a couple minutes ago, we're probably dreaming, we don't know your name, and you expect us to trust you?"  
You must, he affirmed. Even now, they come.  
"Oh, great," Jenny said. "More aliens trying to take over the earth." The alien turned to look at her. "I was right, wasn't I?"  
Yes. They are called the Yeerks, and they take over people's minds, control them, go through their memories and make their host submit to their every command. A host cannot even choose to blink his own eyes. They could be anyone- you can't tell.  
I am Elfangor Shirinai Shamtul of the Andalite people. We fight the Yeerks, but our ship was destroyed in orbit, and it will be…a long time before they can get help here. By the time they do, it will probably be too late- earth will have been completely taken over by them.  
I think we were all pretty overwhelmed at this point. I mean, what are you supposed to say after someone tells you your whole planet is royally screwed? And should we even believe him? But I think all of us realized that we didn't have much choice at that point.  
"Fine," Kali snapped. "This is just peachy. But why are you telling us this sob story? It's not like we can do anything about it."  
That's where you're wrong. My people have developed a special technology- the ability to acquire the DNA of any animal you touch. A powerful weapon, if used correctly, although unfortunately my people underestimate the potential of the power to morph. If you wished, I could give you the power.  
"I want it," Kali said, immediately.  
"So do I," Tala agreed.  
"We're all gonna die," Jenny moaned.  
Ari looked at Elfangor. "We- we're going to have to fight, aren't we?" she asked.  
Yes, he confirmed. But I will not force you to accept the power.  
She drew in a shaky breath. "I don't know. Maybe…maybe I should say yes. I can always say I'm not fighting later, but it'll be harder to change my mind and decide to fight. But…"  
Everyone was looking at me, and I realized I had to answer. I swallowed. "I…I think that if earth is in danger…I should try to save it."  
"We're all gonna die," Jenny moaned again.  
All right, then. He turned to Ari. If you really wish to help, hurry into my ship. Go straight to the back of the room, and there should be a table with a blue box and what looks like a human compact disc on it. Bring them out here. And hurry, the Yeerks will be here soon.  
Just the way he said it send shivers down my spine, and Ari dashed into the ship and came quickly back out with a blue box.  
Now, all of you come here. he commanded. Place one of your hands on the box. Five human hands touched each side of the box, as a blue, six-fingered hand held it from the bottom. A tingling spread through my hand. There, it is done, Elfangor said. Casting his extra set of eyes towards the sky, he said, They come. The Yeerks. Hurry and go. You are earth's last hope. You have to leave. Keep the disc, it has useful data on it. We could now see two pinpoints of light shooting across the sky, like some sort of hyperactive shooting star.  
"What about you?" Ari asked, tearfully.  
I'm going to die anyway, he replied. You need to leave.  
"Come on, Ari," I said, touching her arm. "We need to leave, so we don't all end up dead. I don't want to lose you."  
She sniffled and hugged me briefly. I guess she needed the comfort. "All right."  
"Let's go," I said, turning and walking briskly away. Ari was right behind me, followed by Jenny and Kali. Tala paused a moment, taking Elfangor's hand, and then dropping it again and following us. I'm not too sure what it was about, but I try not to stick my nose in other people's business.  
We slipped out another hole in the fence and turned around to see if we could see anything. What we saw was what must have been the two Yeerk ships landing. Bug fighters, I heard Elfangor's voice, although it sounded much more distant. You should get far away. There will be Hork-Bajir hunting around to make sure no one sees more than they should. A lovely picture of a very scary looking alien accompanied the thought.  
"What could be more obvious than three freakin' ships landing?" Jenny questioned.  
"They'll probably pass it off as drunkenness," Kali said. "I would assume that, if the Yeerks have their controlled people everywhere, that they can do something like that."  
We all looked at each other, overwhelmed.  
"All right," I said, rubbing my eyes tiredly. "We should get out of here as he suggests. Let's all hope this is a horrid dreams, but if it's not, meet at my house in the morning."  
"All right," Tala agreed, speaking for the others. "Good night."  
"Hey, I'll walk you home," I said to Ari.  
"All right, thanks."  
I walked Ari home like I said I would, and then I went home and fell into my bed, exhausted, and had a dreamless sleep. I didn't realize that it was the last I'd have for a long, long time.  
  
End author babbling: Yes, I changed stuff. Got a prob?  
About the characters:   
Kali and Andy are both based off of aspects of my own personality.  
Ari is kinda my idea of a really awesome girl.  
Tala…well, every group needs a lone wolf. ^_^  
Jenny: She's actually based off of a Digimon character. (Bonus points to those who can tell me which one. Not that it's that hard to guess.) I just thought that *cough cough* would make a funny Animorph.  
  
And for those of you who just have to match up the present characters with my own:  
Andy: is roughly equivalent to Jake. The leader.  
Ari: Is roughly equivaltent to Cassie as the peacemaker who cares about everyone and wants them to get along.  
Tala: equivaltent to Tobias as the loner. Trying to decide whether to do a nothlit thing.  
Kali: Rachel. OK, so she's a computer nerd. But when Jenny mentioned the darker side to her, she wasn't kidding…  
Jenny: Marco, the worrywart, plain and simple.  
  
For more complete profiles, check out http://www.geocities.com/aleeaw/anific/profiles.html  



	2. (Courage) Part 2- Mourning Doves

A/N: Ugh. I will write a one-part fic of choice for anyone who gives me a title I like better than this one. I'd also like to know where you guys would like me to go with this- is there anything you'd like to see?  
  
I woke up, very groggy the next morning. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I wondered *Oh, gods, was that a dream last night? Please tell me that was a dream last night. Please tell me that is _not_ a bird tapping on the window.*  
It apparently was. I wondered if that was what had woken me up, but I doubted it, since I could sleep through a hurricane. "That can't be good," I muttered to myself, opening the window.  
Andy! Hi Again with the voices in my mind. Maybe I'm actually going crazy and they have me locked up in a padded cell somewhere. Do crazy people ever wonder if they're crazy? I start giggling hysterically.  
"Tala? You sound like Tala."  
That's my name, don't wear it out the bird, specifically a pigeon, agreed. Isn't this cool? She ruffled her wings.  
"Pigeons? Pigeons are not cool. Now a hawk would have been cool."  
Well, I couldn't get a hawk.  
I sighed. "Did you really have to come here? I wanted to remain in denial as long as possible."  
Why? This is great! I feel so free- away from everything that binds me to this horrible earth.  
I sighed. "Fine, whatever. Could you just- change back now? How did you figure out how to do that, anyway?"  
She started to change, and I must say, it was disturbing. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to watch, but I could still hear her body making weird noises as she changed.  
"It's OK, I'm done," she said. I slowly opened my eyes. "Ack! You're naked!" I whirled around, embarrassed.  
"Sorry, haven't figured out how to morph clothes yet," she said sheepishly.  
"Um…let's see…you're too tall to fit into most of my clothes…" However, I did find a dress in my closet that was too big for me. (And I never wore dresses anyway, unless someone forced me.  
"Yellow?" Tala protested from behind me when I handed her the dress.  
"Wear it! You're not wandering around my bedroom naked! What if my little brother comes in?"  
"Fine," she sighed. "OK, you can look now. What's the problem, anyway? We're both girls."  
I ignored her. "So how did you figure out how to do that?" I asked, heading for my dresser drawer and picking out a pair of black shorts and a green tank for me and pulling them on.   
"I dunno, I was wondering how I could do it, but it apparently just takes concentration. A little trial and error and I was flying. So, we need to call a meeting, discuss what we're gonna do-"  
"I don't want to," I groaned, grabbing my hairbrush and jerking it through my hair.   
"You have to!" Tala protested.   
"Why?" I asked dryly, pausing in my brushing.  
"Because you're our leader!"  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Can't you see it?" she went on. "You are the one who can lead us, bring us all together. You're a natural leader- we all respect you, you make good strategic decisions- we _need_ you!"  
I hadn't intended to give in, but what can you do when someone says they need you? "All right," I said reluctantly. "Let me think of someplace we can meet in private. Then I'll call the others."  
"We can meet at my place," Tala replied instantly.   
"There'll be no one to disturb us or possibly overhear?" I asked, resuming my brushing, and picking out a bandana to hold back my spiky dark red locks.  
"No, I'm positive." She looked bemused. "Do you always have some random hairpiece in your hair?  
"Yeah," I replied. "So half an hour at your place? What's your address?"  
She gave it to me, before starting to morph the other way, back to pigeon. I looked away again, and when I looked back she was out the window.   
I called the others and told them simply that we were having a "meeting" at Tala's house, and gave them the address. Then I hopped on my bike and took off.  
I knocked on the door a few minutes later, studying the slightly rundown house. After a couple seconds (and a lot of barking from inside the house), Tala opened the door.  
"Whoah," I said getting a glimpse of the menagerie inside.  
"I take care of hurt or homeless animals," Tala said by explanation. "The pigeon is here healing from a broken wing. I like animals…"  
"Wow," I replied. "And your parents let you keep all these animals?"  
There was a pause, and I could see hurt flash through her eyes. "I don't have any."  
There was a long uncomfortable silence, during which I mentally kicked myself. Just my style, insert foot "A" into mouth "B"…"I'm sorry," I said after a minute.  
"It's OK," Tala replied softly. "I just live here by myself- I have connections, so I don't get caught."  
"Oh, OK," I said, awkwardly. Just then a knock came at the door, and Tala went to answer it. I was relieved when it turned out to be Ari- my best friend is much more sensitive than I am.  
"Hi," Tala said. "Come in and meet the animals. We'll have some good morphs to start with."  
"I brought the disk," Ari replied cheerfully.  
*Disk…? Oh, right, the disk.*  
"Can I see?" I asked.  
"Here," Ari replied, handing it to me.  
"Cool," I replied, holding it up. "So is it for a computer? How does it work? Can I-"  
"Be careful!" Kali yelped, from where she'd let herself in. "You're going to scratch it, idiot," she snapped, taking the disc away from me. She had her laptop with her, and Jenny followed in close behind. "She probably scratched it," she moaned. "And now we won't know anything, and we'll all die, and-"  
"Stop whining," Kali replied. "It's fine." She was putting the disk onto her laptop and going through files too fast for me to be able to tell what she was doing.  
"What? What's it say?" I asked impatiently. Kali grunted in response, continuing her typing.  
A few minutes later, she grinned triumphantly. "Seems our alien friend left us quite a bit of information." She rapidly began reading off information about nothlits, Taxxons, Hork-Bajir, and a dozen other terms I wasn't familiar with. Bored and listening with one ear, I wandered off to the kitchen table, where Tala had the newspaper sitting.   
"Crap!" I yelled suddenly.  
Kali jerked, and glared at me. "_What_?" she asked, obviously irritated.  
"Come look," I said. "They're looking for five kids that were in the construction sight, setting off fireworks…"  
"Oh, no, we're all going to die," Jenny said morosely. "How did they know we were there?"  
"I don't know," Kali said. "Perhaps they saw our footprints, or perhaps they had a video camera, or…"  
I frowned. "Well, in any event, we're going to have to be really careful. Everyone keep in mind that these Yeerks could be anyone…someone you trust."  
I looked around to make sure everyone understood. "They've probably got my whole family," Jenny sighed. "And all my friends, and…"  
I rolled my eyes. "Jenny. Shut up. If you want to help, you can, but we can't have you whining constantly. Are you a part of this or not?"  
Ari stepped on my foot. Oops, I guess I stuck my foot in my mouth again.  
Jenny looked abashed. "Sorry," she said in a small voice.  
I sighed. I guess I had to apologize…"No…it's my fault. I shouldn't have snapped."  
"It's all right," Jenny said. "I have to go, my parents will worry."  
"Hang on just a second," Tala said. "Get some morph- I have enough animals here."  
"Yeah," I agreed. "Something that flies. And let's meet at the zoo later to acquire some more…dangerous animals." I grinned, already imagining all the cool animals I'd be able to morph. "What do you say…eleven thirty? That way it will have been closed long enough for all the cleanup crews to be gone."  
"I'm not sure I can sneak out," Jenny said, putting the pigeon back in its cage after she and Kali had acquired it. I had to resist snapping again. "I'll get a horse morph from my uncle's ranch."  
"OK," I agreed reluctantly. At the very least, she could…kick some bad guys.  
"Later, guys," she said, taking off. Kali folded up her laptop and followed close behind.   
"So, what have you got that flies other that pigeons?" I asked Tala.  
"A mourning dove," she replied.  
"Sounds better than a pigeon," I replied. "Where is it?"  
"Here," she replied, leading me over to another bird cage. "Just concentrate on it," she instructed. "Ari?"  
"Sure, I'll acquire that one too," she said agreeably, placing her hand on it. Tala took it back when we were done and replaced it in its cage.  
"Come on, let's go do something," Ari said, tugging on my arm.  
"All right," I agreed, smiling. "Later, Tala!" I yelled, just as I was pulled out of the house.  



	3. (Courage) Part 3- Panther

Courage 3  
By Taka  
  
Author's notes: Please stop telling me that Jenny is whiny. I am aware of this fact. She will get better, I promise. And she is certainly not intended to be a Marco clone. Thank you.  
  
"Shhh!" Kali whispered, elbowing me.  
"Hey, don't you tell _me_ to hush!" I hissed back. "I'm the leader here, and-" Ari elbowed me sharply in the side.  
"All right," I said after a moment, rubbing the sore spot and frowning. "We need to get our morphs and get out of here, before someone catches us. Just find a morph you think you'll like but that will also do a lot of damage. Um…split up. Ari and I will go together, and Tala and Kali, you go the other way. That way if we get caught, we won't all be caught. Meet back here when you're done."  
The others nodded, so I opened the partially concealed door at the back of the duck pond (which wasn't locked- I guess they didn't expect people to get down into the exhibit). Inside, I grabbed Ari's hand and started dragging her off, as the others headed down a different corridor. "Dammit!" I yelped, bumping into something in the dark- some food supplies or something. "Well, shall we try this door?" I asked of Ari. She shrugged, so I opened the door and peeked in.  
"Cool!" was the next word that came out of my mouth. "A lion!"  
"Andy!" Ari hissed, pulling me back. "Any sane person would be frightened, not go 'cool'!"  
"Well, we are here to acquire morphs, and a lion seems to be a good one," I pointed out.  
"All right, go pet the lion then, just be slow and quiet," she replied, rolling her eyes.  
I grinned my daredevil grin, cracking the door open again and slipping into the lion's den. Literally.  
OK, I admit it, I was a little scared. But the lion didn't look especially concerned as I crouched down and tentatively put a hand on his haunch, so I figured I shouldn't be too worried, either. Closing my eyes I concentrated on the lion, allowing my eyes to flutter open a second later to see that the lion was in an acquiring trance. Slowly backing off, I returned to the entrance to the exhibit and slipped back out.  
"Glad to see you're in one piece," Ari said. "Let's go this way; we're probably in the feline wing of the exhibit." She paused a moment. "I think…if we go this way, we can find the elephant exhibit. That's what I want. Did you know that elephants actually mourn their dead? They even cry."  
"Hmmm…" I murmured noncommittally, following her as she slipped through the darkened halls. I assumed she knew where she was going since she had a very good sense of direction.  
"Here, I think this is it," she whispered, and opened the door. Her sense of direction proved accurate as she entered the elephant exhibit and tentatively touched one of the huge animals on the trunk. It paused in its feeding as it fell into a trance, and we snuck back out while it was still dazed.  
"OK, let's go meet the others," I whispered, allowing her to take the lead back down the hall.  
"Hey," Kali said, looking incredibly thin in the tight black clothes that we'd found we could morph. "We're done, so let's get outta here."  
"Sure," I agreed, beginning to morph.  
"Andalite!" a voice hissed, and a flashlight was suddenly flashed on over me. Startled, I stumbled backwards, shedding some of the feathers that had already sprouted from my arms. The man revealed in the dim lighting from the flashlight fumbled at his belt. "You're not an Andalite! Humans have gotten the morphing power?"  
Be careful! Kali spoke in my mind. I could see her morphing into something…black behind the man. That's a dracon beam! Incinerator weapons used by the Yeerks!  
"I…don't know what you're talking about," I chuckled nervously.   
"Don't play dumb with me!" he said, finally getting loose his dracon beam and bringing it to bear on me.  
Just then, a flying blur of black struck him, and his arm was just…gone. Red began gushing from the spot his arm used to be. I heard a muffled squeak from Ari, but I was more focused on the controller, as the black panther that was illuminated strangely by the dropped flashlight crouched and leapt again, front paw dealing a blow to the man's head that snapped his neck with a sickening crunch.  
Kali's shape slowly began to form out of the panther. I got up, shakily, glancing at my clothes which now sported bloodstains. I reminded myself to breathe, trying not to hyperventilate.  
Tala was crouched against the wall, blond hair barely visible as her black clothes blended into the night. She looked as though she was trying to stay calm. A little to the right I heard Ari being sick in the bushes, and it was her I went to.  
"Are you all right?" I asked, rubbing her back. Ari was not prone to violence at all, and considering the effect the gruesome scene had on me, I was surprised she wasn't worse off.  
She nodded shakily and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. I wrapped my arm around her waist and helped her up.  
"How could you?" she whispered, directed towards Kali. "How could you kill him?" It was hard to tell, but I was pretty sure she was crying, or at least holding back tears.  
Kali just looked at her. "Easily. It was him or us. I chose us. In addition, the Yeerks will suspect we are Andalites unless we give them reason to suspect otherwise."  
"But you're making yourself no better than them!"  
"No," Kali replied. "They wish to take our freedom from us and have attacked our planet. This is merely self-defense."  
Tala pushed against the wall and got up. "Why don't we debate this in the morning, and get out of here before we're caught."  
I nodded. "Good idea. We'll meet at eleven at Tala's. Any Saturday conflicts?"  
The other three shook their heads. "I'll get the message to Jenny. Let's go." And again I morphed pigeon, this time without result, and took off.  
  
  



	4. (Courage) Part 2- Morality

Temrash 114, drop me a line if it's OK to use your title, and let me know if you want me to write you something.  
  
Notes: I figured I'd get in a little plug about use of my characters, since occasionally I get asked these sort of things. You may use them, you don't even have to tell me, but it _would_ be appreciated for you to send me a copy of the story you wrote so I can see it. ^_^  
  
"I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life," I muttered like a mantra, climbing out of the pool and shaking my hair out. "I have to be at Taka's in ten minutes, I didn't finish my workout, and aliens are invading the earth. Peachy." Hurrying to the locker room, I wrung out my hair, quickly pulling on my clothes and running outside.  
Hopping on my bike, I hightailed it to Tala's house. I walked in at just the wrong moment, to get blasted by the high pitched scream of Ari screaming at Kali, while Tala tried to calm everyone down. Jenny looked fairly upset as well.  
"Sorry I'm a little late," I said, tossing my backpack down and sitting on the couch. "Just finishing up my workout."  
Ari came and sat beside me, still giving Kali dirty looks. Kali just looked indifferent.  
Jenny just sighed and sat down on a chair. "This is awful…we're all gonna die."  
"All right," I said. "We need to discuss what, if anything, we're going to do."  
"I can't just sit here and watch as innocent people get taken over by these Yeerks!" Tala said.  
"I agree," Ari said, "But we can't just go killing humans, even if the Yeerks have them- otherwise what's the point?"  
Kali blew a sharp breath out. "Have you ever heard the quote, 'It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees'? I personally would rather be killed than remain a slave to a Yeerk's every whim."  
"But we don't have to kill them!" Ari protested.  
"Jenny?" I questioned.  
Jenny sighed. "I don't want to die, and I know that's what's gonna happen. But I suppose…I'm with Tala- I can't just sit by and watch as the Yeerks invade. Earth and freedom itself are just too precious."  
I sighed and ran my hand through my bangs. "OK. Ari, killing people is your prerogative- it's your choice to kill them or not. Kali, I respectfully ask you to keep your killing of humans down, although I also thank you, since you probably saved my life."  
Tala nodded her approval my way, and I smiled inwardly. She was the most diplomatic of us, so it was good if she approved my way of handling things.  
Kali had begun typing at her laptop, quickly scanning through information. I have no idea how she digested it so fast. "Look, I think we need to come up with some assault," she said. "I've discovered that the Yeerks have to feed on something called Kadrona every three days. To do this, they go to the Yeerk Pool. I think we should make an assault on the Yeerk Pool. And it had better be good, since after the first time, we'll lose the element of surprise."  
"OK," I agreed. "So an all out attack, taking down as many of them as we can this time. The question is, how?"  
"Hmmm…" Kali muttered. "They surely have a weakness other than Kadrona…I mean, humans need oxygen, water, food…"  
I considered. "What exactly is a Kadrona?"   
Kali tapped at a few more keys. "A model of the sun from the Yeerk's home world."  
"So we blow this thing up? How do you think we're going to do that? And don't they have more?"  
More typing. "Well, blowing it up I can handle- I have enough chemicals at home to create some dangerous substances. There's also a map here- apparently the Andalites had been keeping track of suspected Yeerk Pool entrances. They make a circle of locations around the city, so it seems pretty accurate. I'll do some spying of my own so I can figure out to get us down there…  
"As for having extras, they do have a pool ship, but there will be a lot of very dead slugs by the time they get it here." She gave a near-evil smirk.  
I sighed. "All right. Kali, you go start working on those chemicals. Tala and Jenny, go check out those pool entrances."  
"What if we get caught?" Jenny squeaked. "I mean…we could get in big trouble."  
Tala wrapped her arms around Jenny in a comforting gesture. "Hey, don't worry, I'm good at these things."  
Jenny sighed and turned around to hug Tala back. "Thanks. All right, let's go."  
"Wait, what are we doing?" Ari asked.  
I gave a cocky grin. "Us? We're coming up with a plan that will kick Yeerk butt!"  
  
Author's notes: Nyah. Only two (maybe three) chapters and the epilogue, and I'll be done! Yes, it will be "done", except not really, since of course they'll continue having adventures. It will end on a note of hope, though.  
Will there be a sequel? Probably. The other characters have stories to tell too. ^_^  



	5. (Courage) Part 5- Courage

Random notes: The definition of Kali I gave on my characters page was "dark goddess" but smart me has learned since then that Kali is actually the Hindu goddess of destruction. She wears a necklace of skulls around her neck and is smeared with blood. While unintentional, this is pretty much a good image for Kali, so I'm please with myself. ^_^ Back to your regularly scheduled fic.  
  
"All right," I said, holding the print-out that Kali had handed me. "This is an approximate map of the Yeerk pool as mapped by the Andalites. Apparently they all have generally the same layout, which seems rather stupid to me, but..."  
"Huh? Why's that?" Ari asked.  
I could feel myself smirking. "Because it makes them so much easier to attack when you know where everything is."  
"Oh," she said. "So the Kadrona is here," she pointed to a spot on the map. "And Kali's going to come up with some explosives to blow it to smithereens. I'm not sure I even want to know where she got the chemicals at...."  
"Probably stole them from the science lab," I said helpfully. "At least most of them. In any event, we're going to need to get someone to sneak the explosives in there somehow..." I frowned. "Although the Kadrona has to be pretty well guarded. Someone won't be able to just waltz in there and set up the explosives."  
Ari frowned. "At the risk of sounding cliché, how about a distraction?"  
I snapped my fingers. "Good! I can work with that. Four of us can wreak as much havoc as possible while someone else sneaks into the Kadrona room. It'll have to be someone who can hook up the explosives properly, and hopefully with a morph big enough to carry the stuff but small enough not to be too conspicuous. Ari, do you remember what morphs everyone has so far?"  
Her memory tended to be much better than mine; I also hadn't been paying much attention when everyone had been discussing the morphs they had and the different possibilities.  
"Kali has the panther- you saw that..." she frowned. "I've got an elephant; Tala has an eagle and a wolf; and Jenny has a horse."  
A little light bulb when on while she was talking. "Hang on, I'm going to go give Kali a ring," I said, hopping up and digging for my cell phone in my backpack.  
"Stop, stop," Ari said. "Please don't forget that the phone lines could be tapped for all we know."  
"Oh, right..." This secrecy thing is really hard. "I'll be right back, then," I conceded, grabbing my running shoes and heading for Kali's place.  
Twenty minutes later, I arrived back at the semi-secluded forest location where Ari and I were holding our secret pow-wow planning meeting. Thing. Yeah. So anyway, I probably looked a bit wild, since I was now sweaty and my hair was all over, and I could tell my face was red...  
"New addition to plan! We're going to add some nice chemicals to the pool!" I cackled to Ari. "So this is Plan A."   
"Okay, I'm listening," Ari prompted.   
"Two bird morphs. Ideally Tala will be the first, since she can carry a larger load with her eagle morph. Kali said she'd like to be the second. Tala will carry the explosives and set them up in the back room. Kali will have a plastic bag of some really nasty chemicals. When she flies over the pool, she'll use her talons to pierce the bag. We actually don't know how effective the stuff will be since it's going to be watered down a lot. Depends on how big the pool is and some other stuff. We're also not sure of the effect on the Yeerks, but at the least we think there will be some very sick blobs.  
"But all this isn't going to work without some distraction, and that's where you, me, and Jenny come in. We have to wreak as much havoc as possible to keep the Yeerks from just noticing Kali and Tala and shooting them down. Not to mention the Kadrona probably has at least light guards under normal circumstances, so Tala would never get the stuff in there and set up unless we create a panic."  
"All right," Ari agreed. "So what's Plan B?"  
"Plan B is only to be employed in the utmost of bad circumstances."  
"Well, what is it?"  
"Drop what you're doing, don't worry about anyone else, and run like hell."  
  
********  
  
  
"We're all going to die," Jenny stated, as we crouched outside the school (which had the most easily accessible entrance to the pool.)  
"Oh, no we're not," I replied. I was beginning to think that whining was Jenny's way of dealing with stress.  
"This plan could so easily go wrong," Jenny said. "Murphy's law, you know. Anything that can go wrong, will. Murphy's law of battle: battle plans rarely survive the first encounter with the enemy."  
Strike that. Whining was definitely her way of dealing with stress.  
"Andy," she continued, "I wish I could be brave like you..."  
"Hey," Tala interrupted. "It takes an incredible amount of courage to be here tonight from all of us. Maybe you especially. If something happens tonight, you're the one who will lose the most because you have the best life of any of us."  
It was true. Tala was an orphan. My brother was certifiably insane and my parents divorced- directly or indirectly as the result of the stress of dealing with my brother. Ari had been uprooted so many times in her childhood she had trouble making friends. Kali was abused when she was younger until her father was killed in a car crash and had serious self-esteem issues. Jenny had a fairly normal family, especially compared to the rest of us. I'd had contact with her parents a couple of times and liked them immensely, because they were so warm and friendly.  
I decided (well, with the help of Ari elbowing me and giving me a significant look) that now would be a good time to pick up where Tala had left off. "Right," I agreed. "First off, I'm shaking in my boots too, I just don't show it.   
"Who was it that made that speech 'courage is not an absence of fear'? Well, it's true. Courage is not at all the same as an absence of fear. It's knowing all the wonderful things you have to lose, like your friends and family, and still doing what you have to do. Courage is the girl who joined our swim team because she's hydrophobic and wants to get over that. Courage is a gay guy in school who comes to school every day and deals with the pain of the insults. And courage is a girl who has a wonderful family and friends, and risks fighting evil slugs. She knows she could be taken over and then have to watch her family every night and never be able to truly hug them or touch them or talk to them. That's courage."  
I finally wound down and looked at Jenny, who was tentatively smiling (and bright red.)  
"All right," she said. "Let's go kick Yeerk butt." 


End file.
